Beer Palace gives the polished Aker Brygge waterfront its proper sports pub, a long beer hall on Holmens gate that has poured pints since 1993.
The address is Holmens gate 3, a short walk from the Aker Brygge piers and the Nobel Peace Center. VisitNorway dates the pub to 1993 and credits it with one of Oslo's largest beer ranges, which is the first thing the taps tell you. The room reads as a classic European beer hall rather than a screens-on-every-wall stadium lounge, and that restraint is what sets it apart from the newer venues nearby.
The screening setup earns it a place on a sports list. The flat-screens run independently, so the bar can carry several fixtures at once instead of locking the whole floor to a single match. Upstairs there is shuffleboard, darts and a set of screens kept for the big football, which makes the first floor the room to ask for on a Champions League night. Anyone working through the best sports bars in Oslo should treat this as the waterfront anchor.
The room rewards a slow look. The long bar runs down one side under warm, low light, with the beer list chalked and printed in enough places that newcomers can read their way into it. Wood, brass and a worn floor give it the feel of a pub that has been here a while, which it has, and the upstairs games area keeps the energy from pooling at the taps.
The crowd shifts through the evening. Office groups from the Aker Brygge towers fill the ground floor after work, then the mix tilts toward match-watchers and visitors off the waterfront as the night runs on. It stays a drinking pub rather than a club, so conversation holds even when a fixture is on.
Context matters here. Oslo's match-watching scene splits between the slick lakeside venues and the older beer-led houses in the centre, and Beer Palace straddles the two. It has the Aker Brygge address and the foot traffic that comes with it, yet the soul of the place is the beer list and the unhurried bar, not the screen wall.
What to order: lead with the beer, since the long list of taps and bottles is the reason the regulars keep the stools warm. The kitchen keeps to pub plates built for a long sitting, and the upstairs bar is the spot for a marquee fixture. Drinkers who want a quieter pint before kickoff will find the ground floor calmer than the terrace.
Who it is for: beer drinkers who want range over novelty, groups who need room to spread out, and football followers who would rather watch in a proper pub than a sports cafe. It is a weaker fit for anyone after cocktails or a view of the fjord. For a livelier city-centre alternative, Bohemen Sportspub packs more screens into a smaller room, while Pokalen Vulkan trades the waterfront for the Mathallen food halls.
Getting there is simple. The Aker Brygge tram stop sits a short walk away, and the ferries from the City Hall piers land almost at the door, which makes the pub an easy first or last stop on a night that runs along the waterfront. Drivers will find the area parking tight, so the tram is the calmer arrival.
Best time to go: arrive before kickoff on a Champions League midweek to claim an upstairs table, and expect the after-work crowd to fill the ground floor from early evening. The pub keeps long hours, open daily until the small hours, so it works as both a first stop and a last one. Our guide to the best bars for watching the game sets the wider scene, and the Oslo city guide covers what surrounds it.
Sources
Beer Palace official site · VisitNorway: Beer Palace · Yelp: Beer Palace reviews
